Course Guide

What's New
For more Course Guide information, see our Fall Update. Check out a Course Guide demonstration!

The web-based Course Guide provides a broad spectrum of course information in a consistent format, from a single location.

The Course Guide Vision

  • Provide enriched course information
  • Ensure greater accessibility to tools already available
  • Provide a place for students to manage information they gather about courses
  • Create a conduit for communication among instructors, departments, advisors and students

Why a Course Guide?
The Course Guide pulls together information from many sources to act as a browsable course catalog. This single source will enhance the information students and advisors use when planning and selecting courses for enrollment at UW-Madison. Building on a concept initiated by Biological Sciences faculty, it provides a robust resource for students in all disciplines.

Accessing Course Guide

  • For students, faculty and instructors, advisors and UW-Madison staff (i.e., those with a UW-Madison NetID), log into My-UW at my.wisc.edu and click the Course Guide tab
  • Prospective students, parents, high school counselors or anyone without a UW-Madison NetID should access Course Guide at mycourseguide.wisc.edu
  • Course Guide is also accessible from the online Undergraduate Catalog at http://pubs.wisc.edu/ug/. Click on the Courses link.

Course Guide has the following features:

  • Official Course Information
  • Current and future term/semester information
  • Links to the Schedule of Classes and department websites
  • Browse by Course Title, Instructor, Subject and School/College
  • Enhanced, at-a-glance section details, offering
    • Time/room/day/instructor
    • Revamped presentation of available class seats and course designations/notes
    • New, easy-to-find textbook and final exam information
    • Improved course packaging presentation
  • Ability to create, manage and save customized lists of favorite courses (accessible from My UW only)
  • Option to create, manage and save customized plans for future use (accessible from My UW only)

Course Guide enhancements coming soon include:

  • Robust Search capabilities
    • Search fields, which may include, but are not limited to: title, term, school or college, subject, course number, level, gen ed, credit range, instructor last name, open sections only, start date, breadth, other designations (e.g., ethnic studies, honors, etc.)
  • Different ways to view information
    • Course View (includes title, subject, course number, last taught)
    • Course-Expanded View (may include, but is not limited to: title, subject, course number, last taught, course description, pre requisites, credit range, course designations)
    • Section View (may include, but is not limited to: class number, section, section credits, session dates, day/time, location, open seats, links for textbooks, pre requisites, course designations and notes, and final exam Information)

Future Course Guide enhancements will include:

  • Class Schedule Builder
  • Campus map to help students identify where their classes are located
  • Instructor profile (may include, but is not limited to: syllabi, video clip, teaching style, instructor background, etc.)
  • Mobile access

When will Course Guide be finished?
The Course Guide was initially launched in early June, 2009 and will become more robust as enhancements are added. We anticipate Course Guide will never be "finished" because it will continue to evolve as features are implemented through phased rollouts.

Who benefits by using the Course Guide? 

  • Advisors can use the tool to share information about courses and provide guidance to students on course selection. 
  • Faculty and instructional staff can use the Course Guide to provide detailed information about courses such as syllabi, textbooks, workload expectations, teaching styles and grading criteria.  It offers instructors an opportunity to clarify expectations and generate increased interest in courses.
  • Students and prospective students have asked for an easy-to-access tool to enable them to make informed choices about courses, as well as a way to manage and schedule them.

How has Course Guide been developed?
The Office of the Registrar and the Division of Information Technology continue to collaborate and develop new features to enhance the Course Guide. To ensure the best product possible, we continue to engage in the following practices:

  • Researching best practices at peer institutions and UW-Madison
  • Engaging in an iterative and collaborative design process
  • Gathering input and feedback from stakeholders
    • The Course Guide Advisory Group is comprised of faculty, students, advisors and administrative staff. This group provides ongoing feedback to the Project Team and Sponsors.
    • Campus stakeholders continue to offer feedback through listening sessions, information-gathering sessions, committee meetings and informal networking.
    • Surveys (such as those sent to the 2009 SOAR students and advisors) have been used to help inform the Course Guide leadership team and sponsors of the user experience along with improvements and enhancements that are desirable for the future.

Your Participation is Important

We are happy to share details and hear your ideas for the Course Guide. Feel free to contact us at courseguide@em.wisc.edu to ask questions or schedule time for a representative to come talk to you or your group about the Course Guide.

Project Updates

Where can I learn more about the Course Guide project?

Contact Us

Questions, comments or feedback?  We would love to hear from you!  Please contact us at courseguide@em.wisc.edu.